Editorial: Downtown Development Continues

Monday

Two reports in Friday’s edition make for optimism concerning the continued improvements in retail and residential opportunities on Garrison Avenue as well as the development of the riverfront area.

To start with the second, we have news brought by state Sen. Jake Files, R-Fort Smith, that the U.S. Marshals Museum should get a little more than $1 million from the state sometime after the July 1 start of the new fiscal year.

The money from the state’s General Improvement Fund was approved, Sen. Files said, because “the Marshals Museum … is a statewide project and is of (national) importance.”

Jim Dunn, president and CEO of the museum credited Sen. Files and Rep. George McGill, D-Fort Smith, with doing the heavy lifting in the Legislature to secure the funding.

Mr. Dunn said the state money probably would be used to help with the fundraising efforts already underway and to fund office operations. Although fundraising still has a way to go for the planned $50 million museum, officials have tentatively scheduled groundbreaking for the museum north of the Fort Smith River Park for September 2014, to coincide with the Marshals Service’s 225th anniversary.

In other news, the Fort Smith Central Business Improvement District Commission approved plans for a $3 million renovation of six buildings in the 400 block of Garrison Avenue.

The project, Garrison Pointe West, was proposed by developer Rick Griffin, who owns the Garrison Pointe convenience store at Fifth and Garrison.

The new development is likely to continue the quality work of that project, which surely has to be one of the most elegant gas station complexes in a downtown area in Arkansas.

Preserving the character of its historic buildings is one of the things that helped get Fort Smith named Top True Western Town for 2013 by True West magazine. And it’s something that Rick Griffin and his dad, Commission Chairman Richard Griffin, have invested in before.

The CBID at its meeting Thursday also signed off on another outdoor dining venue downtown when it approved an amendment to the second phase of Bravo Italian Restaurant’s relocation at 424 Garrison Ave. The outdoor dining area will accommodate 40 to 50 people.

Other downtown developments remain at the conceptualization stage and include the closing of A Street to vehicle traffic, relocation of a railroad maintenance yard, creation of a splash pad and possible novel addition of a historic iron bridge that could be relocated as a pedestrian crossing and attraction.

April is nearly over, and we hope these weekly flirtations with frost warnings and historic low temperatures will soon be behind us soon. We’re ready to head downtown, buy some fresh produce, ride on the carousel, and try to picture what it all will look like in five years.

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